What would you do if you woke up and found yourself in a mansion atop the Hollywood hills, living with your superstar best friend, and suddenly have access to an endless amount of money? For the last eight seasons, this is what the HBO series Entourage dealt with. For the first time, however, the boys will not be back in town. The show became an interestingly light and usually fun portrayal of celebrity as well as a rags-to-riches story about the possibilities of the American Dream. Entourage had a good run, having its final episode this past Sunday. It is now time to look back at the series after fans of the show were forced to hug it out one last time, or will this be the last time?

I can’t say that I am pleased with the series finale. Sure, it ended happy and avoided the usual Hollywood downer ending. However, the final episode felt rushed as it tied up a few big stories in 30 short minutes. Ari (Jeremy Piven) got back together with his wife, Vince is leaving to marry Sophia (Alice Eve) and the boys helped Eric (Kevin Connolly) to get Sloan (Emanuelle Chriqui) back. In a final scene after the credit sequence we see Ari get offered the biggest job of his life, CEO of a major umbrella corporation. There is material left here for more seasons and the show didn’t even to give closure to the stories of Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Drama (Kevin Dillon), but I digress.

Regardless of my issues with the finale, all of Entourage’s spoiled brats grew into better people than those we first met in season one. Vince (Adrian Grenier) had many ups and downs, going from top grossing movie star to getting addicted to hard drugs and falling for porn star Sasha Grey. With the help of his friends Vince cleaned up and prevailed. Turtle and Drama grew up (ever so slightly) and slowly began to take responsibility for their lives. Eric remained the rock throughout the entire series. He was a sweet guy who always tried to do the right thing and kept all of the other characters in check. I will especially miss Eric’s verbal battles with Ari, another strong character.

Over the years, most of the character gave in to temptations that come with the fast and loose celebrity lifestyle. The difference is now Eric dealt with this, which is why he is such a pivotal character. Eric is the everyman that most of us would (hopefully) be if thrown into the Hollywood life, making mistakes but always striving to do good. Contrary to his friends, it is Eric that has a moral conscience, truly regretting all of his mistakes instead of laughing them off like the others do. The final season saw Eric giving up his agency in LA to live in New York to help his wife raise their child after she decided to move away.  It would be difficult to imagine Turtle, Drama or Vince doing that.

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Filmmaker Tyler Perry, with Oprah Winfrey as a role model, has consistently outsmarted Hollywood moguls since his debut feature Diary of a Mad Black Women. That Gospel-infused “fat-suit-in-drag” comedy was made for a mere $5.5M and scored an opening weekend of $21.9M, ultimately generating $50.6M in domestic sales.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well with Tyler Perry

At only 39, Perry is building an empire. He officially christened Tyler Perry Studios last October in Atlanta with a star-studded event. The multi-million dollar project is a sprawling 30-acre working production facility in southwestern Atlanta, and the opening night party featured appearances by legendary African American actors like Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Lou Gossett, Jr. and Will Smith.

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Hollywood execs seem to be waking up to the power of women at America’s multiplexes. The success of He’s Just Not That Into You (Warner Bros) and this weekend’s Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) can be traced to Meryl Streep’s witty riff on the tyrannical Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada in the summer of 2006. Prada opened to a $27.5M weekend on its way to a $124.75M domestic cume (Streep also earned an Oscar nomination).

Then in July of 2007, New Line grabbed an almost identical $27.47M with the opening weekend of the female-skewing Hairspray, translating to $118.87M domestic. Also Enchanted, starring Amy Adams, was a hit for Disney over the holidays reaching $127.8M domestic.

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Although America is suffering through its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, there is no recession in the movie business. Led by the Warner Bros reboot of Friday the Thirteenth and a couple of surprisingly strong chick flicks, Hollywood’s top twelve grossing movies may grab a combined $201.5M over the long President’s Day weekend holiday, which marks an all-time best for the annual 4-day movie-going bonanza.

TOP GROSSING PRESIDENT’S WEEKENDS FOR HOLLYWOOD
- combined gross of top 12 films -
1. 2009 – $201.5M (estimated)
2. 2007 – $167.8M
3. 2008 – $141.1M
4. 2003 – $141M
5. 2005 – $137.1M

Director Marcus Nispel (2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) and the Platinum Dunes production company have gotten the all-new Friday the Thirteenth off to a spectacular $19.3M opening day. That could translate to a well-above-expectations $47M by Tuesday morning. The new Jason restart quickly follows the Platinum Dunes success of The Unborn, released on January 9 to a $19.8M 3-day take. That David D. Goyer written and directed genre pic was made for just $16M, and The Unborn has generated an estimated $42M in the US.

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The Drew Barrymore-produced romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You has made the jump from catch-phrase to self-help book to movie hit. With an all-star cast this classic ‘chick flick” appears to be winning the weekend after posting a spectacular $10.5M in opening day ticket sales. That should mean a 3-day start of $27.4M or so, easily out-pacing holdover Taken (Fox) and three other new wide releases. With this kind of opening, Not That Into You could reach almost $60M by the end of next weekend (a 4-day Presidents/Valentine’s combo), which would forecast a potential $90M in US ticket sales.

The new movie developed by New Line and now released by Warner Bros is based on the book of the same name co-written by former Sex & the City scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. The line itself has come to be a reassuring fallback for women in the dating scene (and I’m guessing single guys have adopted the mentality as well in the rough-and-tumble world of dating).

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